he would have been a crucial advisement, the civil war in syria, all of which are among the pressing foreign policy questions right now. he doesn't need him resigning at this moment. >> let me bring an nbc analyst. you're okay with your ifb and everything? >> yes. >> again, i don't know where to begin. we're hearing that they're talking about speeding the replacement process for general allen in europe. the first thing i thought is, i mean, you have two men among the best, the brightest the most experienced, the most respected in the entire military, how deep is the bench to fill in the pieces? >> well, look, you know, it's a tragedy. loss of petraeus is really a blow to the country. he's an immensely skilled officer. so pulling him at this point is really a problem in this. allen implicated with the same woman indirectly in tampa is astonishing. there's a question, chris, though, about our priorities. we spend $7 billion a month on afghanistan. the two political candidates didn't talk about this war. and now, we become obsessed with the sex life of the cia director and the commander